The cymbal (also known as Hungarian cimbalom) is a musical instrument that has a somewhat uncertain origin. It is believed that the Roma in Eastern Europe led to approximately the thirteenth century. It is widely used in music from countries such as Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, etc., and Persian music in Iran, where it is known as the Santur.

It is a stringed instrument, and played with a pair of mallets in both hands, tapping the strings to make them sound. It is a kind of dulcimer but larger, although there are also portable. The first performance of a simple string instrument of percision which is categorized as a deck dulcimer can be found in the Assyrian bas-relief in Kyindjuk, around the year 3500 BC. People all over the Mediterranean had this instrument, as well as many villages in Asia, but called it by different names.

The deck of folk dulcimer was made by V. Josef Schunda, an expert piano maker who lived and worked in Pest, Hungary, as a basis for a cymbal concert, devised the series production in 1874. The first textbook for this instrument was published by Geza Allaga, a member of the orchestra of the Royal Hungarian Opera in 1889.

The instrument became popular in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was used by all ethnic groups in the country, including Jews klezmorim and musicians Slavs and Magyars (Hungarians), and Roma (Gypsies) and the musicians Lautari. The use of this instrument was extended to the late nineteenth century and replaced the kobza in Romanian and Moldovan folk groups. In Wallachia is used almost as a percussion instrument. Transylvania and Banat, the style of play it is more tonal, heavy with arpeggios.